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What of poverty and riches, glory and power?
In the case of inherited fortune, the stars merely announce a
rich man, exactly as they announce the high social standing of
the child born to a distinguished house.
Wealth may be due to personal activity: in this case if the body
has contributed, part of the effect is due to whatever has
contributed towards the physical powers, first the parents and
then, if place has had its influence, sky and earth; if the body
has borne no part of the burden, then the success, and all the
splendid accompaniments added by the Recompensers, must be
attributed to virtue exclusively. If fortune has come by gift
from the good, then the source of the wealth is, again, virtue:
if by gift from the evil, but to a meritorious recipient, then
the credit must be given to the action of the best in them: if
the recipient is himself unprincipled, the wealth must be
attributed primarily to the very wickedness and to whatsoever is
responsible for the wickedness, while the givers bear an equal
share in the wrong.
When the success is due to labour, tillage for example, it must
be put down to the tiller, with all his environment as
contributory. In the case of treasure-trove, something from the
All has entered into action; and if this be so, it will be
foreshown- since all things make a chain, so that we can speak of
things universally. Money is lost: if by robbery, the blame lies
with the robber and the native principle guiding him: if by
shipwreck, the cause is the chain of events. As for good fame, it
is either deserved and then is due to the services done and to
the merit of those appraising them, or it is undeserved, and then
must be attributed to the injustice of those making the award.
And the same principle holds is regards power- for this also may
be rightly or unrightly placed- it depends either upon the merit
of the dispensers of place or upon the man himself who has
effected his purpose by the organization of supporters or in many
other possible ways. Marriages, similarly, are brought about
either by choice or by chance interplay of circumstance. And
births are determined by marriages: the child is moulded true to
type when all goes well; otherwise it is marred by some inner
detriment, something due to the mother personally or to an
environment unfavourable to that particular conception.
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